Yesterday I was on my way to work in my 17 year old Sprinter when a traffic cop told me to follow him. He led me to a car park where a lot of other vans and trucks had been pulled in. We were questioned, I had my licence and documents checked, there was a drug sniffer dog and some poor sods in a car being searched; they stole some of my diesel to test it for untaxed red diesel (I told them I could have driven half a mile on what they stole); they looked underneath my van, and under the bonnet (possibly to see if I'd installed a surreptitious V8 instead of the 79 horsepower Mercedes diesel); they checked my lights and brakes and steering and chassis, and wanted to see inside to check what I was carrying. The revenue were there and checked my business was registered for tax. They had a portable weighbridge, which they used on the truck in front of me. The cop who spoke to me (they were working hard at the customer relations) said that 40% of commercial vehicles were committing some kind of offence BUT - here's the good news - they found nothing wromg with mine!!! Good thing they didn't check the handbrake.... it needed adjusting, which I did today. They wanted to know where I was going and why, and a mile or so further on was an unmarked van with cameras, presumably checking what we told them.

They didn't notice my dashcam, which recorded the whole thing. Interesting viewing.

I lost an hour's work and although I tried to hide it was so stressed out I had to go to a nearby cafe for a cofee. Since this job was 30 miles from home and I didn't want to go back another day, we had to work late to get finished. But, hey! my van passed! 243,000 miles, 17 and a half years old and still going strong, more than 7 years with me and never broken down, cost almost nothing in repairs either. It's nice to have something in life that's reliable (touches wood by knocking on own head).